Boogie Frights/Transcript

Narrator: The city of Townsville. (Pan across the city as he continues.) And like most cities, Townsville prepares its young for bed as evening approaches.

(In the windows of one building, we see parents dressing their children in pajamas, helping them brush their teeth, and tucking them into bed.)

Narrator: The same is true in the home of the Powerpuff Girls. (Camera stops on their house and zooms in.)

(Inside, the girls are dressed for bed, but not quite ready for sleep. Blossom is sitting up in bed, Buttercup is jumping on it, and Bubbles is surveying a pile of stuffed animals worriedly.)

Buttercup: Man, I’m not ready for bed yet! (Zoom in slowly on Blossom.)

Blossom: Now, girls, you know we need to get plenty of sleep. It’s our responsibility as super heroines to be well-rested, so that we’ll be at peak crime-fighting performance whenever evil rears its ugly head.

(As she continues, a large lump moves into view and makes its way up Bubbles’ section of the bed, in the center.)

Blossom: And, like Ben Franklin always said— (The lump emerges; it is the pile of stuffed animals, followed by Bubbles’ arms.) “Early to bed, early to wake, makes a lady smart, pretty, and great.”

(Bubbles remains under the covers, only her arms in view. Cut to Buttercup’s side of the bed.)

(She turns off the light and leans forward again. Now we see her only as a silhouette, with the sides of her flip curling up like horns and her eyes shining in the darkness. She cuts a fearsome little figure.)

Buttercup: …after dark!

(Bubbles screams. The Professor bursts into the room, silhouetted in the light from the hall.)

Blossom: Yes. (He sits down next to Bubbles and puts an arm around her. She stops crying.)

Professor: Okay, Bubbles, calm down. Everything’s all right now.

Blossom: (goody-goody mode) Professor, I was trying to sleep, but Bubbles was afraid of the dark, and—and Buttercup was telling scary stories, and then—

Professor: (wearily) Yes, Blossom, I know. Buttercup likes to be an instigator.

Bubbles: A what?

Blossom: That means she was trying to get your goat.

Bubbles: (pulling a stuffed goat to herself) No!

Buttercup: Well, it’s not my fault she’s a baby scared of the dark.

Bubbles: I’m sorry. I wish I were brave.

Professor: Now, girls, being scared doesn’t make you a baby. I was scared when I heard my girls screaming. But did I hide under the covers? (Close-up of Blossom.)

Blossom: (righteously) No. You ran in to check on us very brave-like.

Professor: (from o.s., sighing) Thank you, Blossom. (Pull back.) You see, bravery doesn’t mean you’re not scared. (Zoom in on him and Bubbles.) Bravery is doing what you’re afraid to do. (patting her head) If you can just face your fears, then I know you can find the courage to beat ’em.

(She sniffles and smiles, and he tucks Buttercup into bed next to her.)

Professor: Now, then, everyone, into bed. It’s time for sleeping.

(He kisses Blossom and Bubbles on the forehead, and they close their eyes. He pauses over Buttercup.)

Professor: And no more monkey business!

(He kisses her; she closes her eyes. Now he walks o.c., and the lights snap off.)

Bubbles: But— (Cut to him at the door, hand on the light switch.)

Professor: Don’t worry, Bubbles, the hall light will take care of any Boogie Men that might show up.

(Back to the bed. Bubbles sighs contentedly and settles down as the light from the hall narrows to a shaft that falls across her.)

Narrator: Ahh, that’s better. (Buttercup swipes an alligator from Bubbles’ pile and snuggles with it.) Now that things have quieted down—

(A thumping backbeat stats up.)

Narrator: (yawning) —we can all get some… (awake again) Say, do you hear something?

(Turn down to the foot of the bed and zoom in at ground level. Now the bass line kicks in.)

Narrator:(curious) Some kind of crazy beat?

(When the view shows only the darkness under the bed, the interior of a vertical shaft becomes visible. Camera moves down this; we hear the sound of tools being used and see part of a large spherical structure come into view.)

Narrator: Who could still be awake at this time of night?

(At ground level, a figure is bent over behind the structure. It wears white platform shoes with spikes on the soles, making them look like a pair of beasts’ heads, When it speaks, it sounds a little like Barry White.)

(Pan over to a door. A short creature with two stubby horns, wearing sunglasses and a leisure suit, stands next to it. Now we see the shadow of the speaker—very tall and imposing, with two long horns growing to the sides. The short one, Jerome, snaps a salute.)

Figure: (from o.c.) Let’s get this party started.

(Cut to a 1970s-era lounge and pan slowly across the room. Creatures and monstrosities of all sorts are sitting at the bar, arm-wrestling, drinking, and joking; disco music plays in the background. Stop at the other end of the lounge, with a door at the back wall. Jerome walks into view and stands in front of this to address the crowd. The music stops for him. When he speaks, he sounds a bit like George Jefferson.)

Jerome: Listen up, all you freaks and disasters, and chill the frag out! ’Cause here comes the master! So give it up for the beast with the plan! (stepping back o.c. as the door opens) The one, the only, B-B-B-Boogie Man!

(From the shadows, the figure in the white platform shoes emerges. The Boogie Man is a huge, muscular humanoid creature with lumpy blue flesh. He wears shades with flames painted on them, and a black muscle shirt and tights.)

Boogie Man: Creatures of darkness…DIG IT! Too long have we been at the mercy of light. (The crowd cheers.) Night lights, streetlights, hall lights with the door cracked. And deeper still…the sun. (The crowd hisses.) I know, I know. But I, your Boogie Man, have just completed Step One of my grand master plan that will ensure an end to this problem once and for all. So prepare to hit the streets—’cause we are gonna party ALL NIGHT LONG!

(The crowd cheers wildly.)

Boogie Man: So tell me. When things get creepy…

Crowd: Blame it on the boogie!

Boogie Man: (holding shades in hand) When things get spooky…

Crowd: Blame it on the boogie!

Boogie Man: And when things get freaky, funky, and nasty… (Stay on him as he encourages the crowd and soaks up the fame from his fellow night creatures, grinning proudly.)

Crowd: (from o.c.) BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE! (They cheer him.)

(Pan right to bring Jerome into view.)

Boogie Man: (to Jerome) Get Scissors on the horn.

(Jerome reaches into his jacket and pulls out a cell phone. He dials a number and hands off to the Boogie Man, who puts it to his ear. We hear the phone ringing on the other end. Dissolve to a building with a sign in front of it: “Townsville Power Plant.” A phone is heard ringing as the camera zooms in.)

Narrator: Uh-oh! What’s he got cooking at the Townsville Power Plant?

(Inside, a vulture-like beast stands by a thick cable labeled “Main Power.” It has a serrated beak and wears a dark shirt and cap. A phone is in its hand—this is Scissors, Boogie Man's agent assigned to carry out the next step of his master plan.)

Scissors: Yeah, Boss?

Boogie Man: (over phone) Proceed with Step Two.

(Scissors looks down at the main power cable, opens wide, and bites down on the cable, snapping it in two. Cut to the exterior of the plant and pan across town as the Narrator speaks. Lights flicker out everywhere thanks to Scissors' sabotage of the power plant.)

Narrator: (increasingly panicked) Oh, my gosh. They’ve cut off all power to Townsville! That means…no more streetlights…no more hall lights with the door cracked…and definitely no more nightlights!

(Stop in the room of a sleeping boy, a nightlight glowing by his bed. It goes out thanks to the power being cut; a moment later, a section of his blanket rises from the floor and a monster’s eyes peek out.)

Monster under bed: (laughing softly) The coast is clear! Come on!

(A host of creatures emerges from under the bed. They walk right o.c. as the boy screams, having been awoken upon hearing the first monster speak. The last one to leave, appearing some moments after the others, is an oversized sweat sock. In another house, a father holds his crying baby in one hand while fumbling sleepily for the refrigerator door handle with the other. He opens the door, revealing a large monster stuffed inside and staring back out at him. He screams in fear, but the child smiles.)

(While a girl sleeps, her bed is lifted out of view on the head of a huge beast rising from the floor. A crash is heard; pull back to show the monster now protruding through the roof, the bed still on top of him, and laughing. On a street corner, a woman has a dog on a leash. Her eyes go wide, and she looks left o.c.; pan in that direction to show a small monster with a huge dog-like beast on a leash. A car is parked next to it, and the dog lifts its leg to relieve itself. Back to the woman and her dog; both start in surprise.)

(A boy sleeps in a race-car bed. Next to him, a mummy’s head pokes out from under the covers, which are thrown off after a moment to reveal a steering wheel. The kid screams, and the mummy laughs at him and guns the engine. The bed roars off down the street through a monster party in full swing. A low-riding stretch limousine rolls up; the passenger door opens, and out steps the Boogie Man. He now wears a white leisure suit with a pink shirt, along with non-spiked platform shoes, and carries a cane. The crowd greets and cheers him as he makes his way through the scene; camera follows him. He stops by a giant slug wearing a broad-brimmed pimp hat with a huge feather.)

Slug: Fashionably late again, I see. So fashionable you missed the party.

(It looks up at the sky; the sun starts to come up beyond the buildings. So much for their little night rave.)

(Cut to a building labeled “BEVCO.” One monster sits in front of it, holding a drink; another one stands behind it, with a storage tank in its hand for a cocktail shaker—a bartender.)

Bartender: LAST CALL! (Back to the crowd.)

Jerome: Let’s wrap it up, people! The sun’s comin’ up!

Boogie Man: Hold up, hold up! Did you all forget about my grand master plan? The sun will no longer be an issue once I initiate the third and final step.

Slug: Is Step Three really all that?

Boogie Man: Shoot. It ain’t no step for a stepper.

(Close-up of the head of his cane, shaped like a skull. He flips it open to expose a red button, which he presses. Sparks fly from it; cut to the Starlight Rollerway, where more sparks crackle from the roof.)

Narrator: Uh-oh. What’s happening at the old abandoned roller rink?

(The roof flips open, and a huge sphere rises into view and flies o.c.)

Narrator: He’s launched some kind of missile!

(From outer space, we see the projectile rise up from Earth and sail across the cosmos. Camera follows it.)

Narrator: It’s a giant disco ball!

(This, then, is what the Boogie Man was constructing earlier. It flies toward the sun; cut back to Townsville, the camera pointing up to the sky. The ball positions itself in front of the sun, blocking the light and throwing sparkles everywhere, turning the sky a sinister dark red thanks to the unnatural solar eclipse.)

Narrator: And it’s eclipsing the sun!…Oh, no! Now morning will never come to Townsville!

(Turn down to the monster-infested street, the Boogie Man and Jerome at the center of the crowd.)

Narrator: And these nocturnal nightmares will be free to haunt the darkness forever!

Crowd: BLAME IT ON THE BOOGIE! (They cheer and shout.)

(Cut to two boys asleep in bunk beds; they are seized and used as maracas by a fat, green, one-eyed creature in a Carmen Miranda getup. A dude with a lot of fluffy hair and wearing a leisure suit jumps onto a girl’s bed; another girl finds three spirits dancing next to hers. We see an invisible pimp walking an equally invisible dog down the street. At an automobile dealership, two feet smash down through the roofs of a couple of cars. Pull back and follow the owner of the feet—a freak dressed for Roller Derby—as it skates down the street.)

(Cut to a nuclear power plant, where a monster is drinking the radioactive waste. It belches out a blast of fire; pan quickly to a nearby apartment building as it is torched. The residents scream. A go-go dancer swings her hips back and forth, knocking out buildings on either side of her. Cut to the Mayor asleep at home. His blankets are thrown off by a snake with a great deal of curly red hair, and he screams in terror. Jumping out of bed, he turns and finds himself facing a seedy-looking creature with a small derby hat and a cigarette in a long holder. He screams again. Now he runs down the hall and stops in front of his wife—her hair in curlers and a beauty-mask treatment on her face. She sounds very much like him and wears her monocle even now.)

Mayor’s wife: Honey! What is it?

(The Mayor turns toward the camera and screams. Zoom in on his open mouth, then pull back on Blossom’s. We are in the girls’ bedroom again, and she too is screaming.)

Blossom: I CAN’T GET ANY SLEEP! (Pull back again; her sisters are also awake.) With all that racket out there! (flying to window) Something funky’s going on downtown.

(Cut to Blossom and Buttercup in flight. The first is spoiling for a fight, while the second wears a look of anticipation. Bubbles flies into view to join them, sucking her thumb nervously. They land in front of the crowd of monsters, the disco ball shimmering overhead. The music is cranked up.)

Bubbles: Well, it’s got a good beat, and I can dance to it. (They start to get down.)

Buttercup: (singing) He-eyy!

(A cat creature with long claws and wearing leopard-skin tights snarls at the two girls. They scream, and Buttercup ends up in Bubbles’ arms.)

Bubbles: Hey! You got scared!

Cat: Yeah, little girl, I thought you liked to party.

(Buttercup jumps out of Bubbles’ arms and braces for a scrap.)

Buttercup: Let’s get down!

(She and the cat jump toward each other. She dodges a few swings of the claws and catches it with an uppercut that knocks it away over the buildings. A huge green beast slams its jaws shut around her.)

Blossom, Bubbles: Buttercup!

(They have no time to react, though; two huge bruisers jump into view and pin them to the pavement. These are quickly knocked away, and Buttercup smashes her way out through the green beast’s teeth. Now all three go to work on the partygoers, but the tide soon turns against them and they find themselves on the receiving end of the beatdown.)

Blossom: So it’s you who’s been terrorizing Townsville and keeping us awake!

Boogie Man: Aww, I’m sorry, did I wake you? (laughing) Don’t expect to sleep anytime soon— (pointing up o.c.) —’cause now that I’ve blocked out the accursed sun— (singing) —we’re gonna make this night last forever! (The other monsters cheer.)

Blossom: Block out the sun—? (looking overhead) That’s it! Come on, girls. We’ve gotta take out that disco ball! (The girls take off.)

(The Boogie Man looks up after them.)

Boogie Man: What? No! THEY CAN’T!

(He leaps back into his limousine through the sunroof. The car flips up on its rear end to point straight into the sky, then blasts off. Cut to it flying through space—a deflector panel extended from each corner—then to him in the cockpit. A pair of fuzzy dice dangles from the ceiling.)

Boogie Man: I’ll do it myself!

(The girls approach the disco ball.)

Blossom: Accelerate to attack formation and follow me in.

(They begin to skim the surface, flying down a narrow trench.)

Blossom: I can see a small exhaust port at the end of the chasm. If we could just hit it with our laser vision, it should destroy the ball!

(She carries her sister out of range, leaving Bubbles by herself. Close-up of the Boogie Man in his cockpit, adjusting the controls and chuckling wickedly, then back to Bubbles. Now she is running scared.)

Professor: (memory) Bubbles…if you can just face your fears, then I know you can find the courage to beat ’em.

(A new determination takes hold, and she goes for broke, easily dodging every shot the Boogie Man throws at her. Cut to his perspective of her from the cockpit.)

Boogie Man: A feisty little one…

(Close-up of the targeting display; an image of Bubbles appears dead center in the crosshairs.)

Boogie Man: Ha! Now you’re mine!

(Head-on view of the limo. A laser blast slams into the side of the trench just off his bow, throwing him off course. Back to the cockpit.)

Boogie Man: Huh?

(Back out in space, Blossom and Buttercup fly down from the sun.)

Blossom, Buttercup: Wahoo!

(They cut loose with a barrage of shots and score several hits that damage the limo and send it tumbling through space. Both address themselves to the o.c. Bubbles.)

Buttercup: You’re good to go, kid!

Blossom: Now blow up that disco ball so we can go back to bed!

(Still flying along the trench, Bubbles smiles up at them and fires a single shot that curves neatly into the exhaust port. Long shot of the disco ball; the girls fly away from it and o.c., Bubbles with a big smile on her face. A moment later, the ball explodes into dust.On the ground, the monsters try to shield themselves from the sunlight.)

Crowd: Oh, no!

(Camera shifts to point up at the sun; the monsters turn black and evaporate as the Narrator speaks.)

Narrator: Oh, yes! The sun is free to shine on Townsville again! (Pan across a block of blackened monster leftovers.) Sorry, nightmares. Party’s over. And don’t let the doorknob hit ya where the dog shoulda bit ya. (The monsters disappear.)